Fall Out Boy Stream New Album, Attempt ‘Uptown Funk’ Cover

January 14, 2015

It’s been a roller coaster couple of days for American rock heroes and Soundwave 2015 guests Fall Out Boy, with the band’s fortunes traversing the good, the bad and the ugly. The good news is that the Illinois-bred foursome have surprised fans by offering up a full stream of their brand-spanking new album American Beauty/American Psycho.

Fall Out Boy’s sixth studio LP is officially due out on Friday 16th January, but eager fans can get the entire 11-tracks’ worth of new material into their earholes right now via YouTube. “SURPRISE!” The group posted on Twitter this morning. “Today we’re streaming our album one song at a time starting right NOW!” You can check out each track below.

The bad news or, rather, sad news relates to resident guitar-slinger, Joe Trohman. The Fall Out Boy axeman was forced to pull out of the band’s performance in London this week due to the tragic death of his mother from an aggressive brain tumour.

“I can’t express the sorrow and heartache I am currently feeling,” Trohman said in an official statement published on the band’s website. “In the mean time the show must go on. My dear friend, bandmate (from non-FOB projects) and guitar tech (i.e. guy who makes my gear work and keeps me looking/sounding good) Josh Newton will be more than filling in my shoes. He’ll help keep the guys company until I make my return.”

And as for “the ugly”, well, that seems to be the general consensus about a new video circulating on the interwebs of the remaining Fall Out Boy members covering Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars‘ smash hit single Uptown Funk live on BBC Radio 1.

Trohman is, of course, MIA for the performance, which sees the aforementioned tech Josh Newton filling in on axe duties. However, whether the group fell victim to a bad mix, whether that guitar tone was just a bit wrong, or whether the band were just plain out of their depth, it’s hard to argue that the rock act’s rendition of the funkedelic chart-smasher was anything other than downright ugly. Check it out for yourself below.